


Lights of His Life

by Sweetest_Thiam



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Ferris Wheels, Fluff, Heartbeats, M/M, Mates, Minor Lydia Martin/Jordan Parrish, Minor Scott McCall/Kira Yukimura, More angst than intended, Theo loves his daughter, Werewolf Mates, he also loves liam, parenting, this was supposed to be a oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-01-12 19:13:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18452885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweetest_Thiam/pseuds/Sweetest_Thiam
Summary: Theo and Liam have had a good life living in a house together as friends, but when Theo gets a call from Melissa about an abandoned baby girl - one that's evidently his - his life changes drastically in more than one way.





	1. Willow

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a short little oneshot, but, well...
> 
> ;)

Life with a housemate was good. Theo paid half the rent, Liam paid the other, they both pulled their weight, and things went by smoothly. The two friends had moved into a house in Beacon Hills after they graduated highschool, using the money they had gathered from odd jobs and Theo's work as a bartender to put a down payment on the house, and the rest was history.

It had only been a few days of living with Liam, but Theo was getting used to it already. It was easy to stave off nightmares when someone else was just across the hall, and he could finally get a good night's rest and a hot shower every morning now that he was out of the confines of his car. Sure, he was flat broke for now since they had to buy a lot of things and pay bills, but Liam's parents and the pack were helping them out the best they could, even if it was more for Liam's benefit than Theo's. 

It was easier than ever to sit and relax, and he didn't even have to call Liam to get him to hang out with him. Every night they normally found themselves on the couch watching something together or just browsing through their phones. Theo was surprised to notice that he was truly a creature of habit, and a routine made his life a whole lot better. 

Tonight was no different. Liam was looking at a book he was reading for one of his college classes, his feet kicked up on the arm of their faux-leather couch in a state of concentration and Theo texting one of his friends from work about covering a shift the next day. "James again?" Liam asked knowingly, and Theo nodded. "What's the excuse this time?"

"He's apparently coming down with smallpox, you know, the disease that was eradicated." Liam snorted at Theo's scepticism and went back to reading his book. 

While Theo agreed once again to take over James' shift and Liam turned the pages of his book, things were quiet in the Raeken-Dunbar house. Even if the two boys were loud, after the stress of the day they were often more on the silent side when all was said and done. Neither felt like arguing, and they'd much rather just relax. "Oh, for fucks' sake..." Liam whispered at the end of a chapter. He had planned to go to bed after he was done, but that cliffhanger? He was going to be at it for at least another twenty minutes.

This was the mundaneness of a human life that Theo loved. Hearing Liam get upset over a little thing like the end of a book's chapter and feeling the need to go to bed before 10 PM offered a sense of comfort he hadn't felt since he was a kid. With all the Chimera things pushed aside now, he was able to do all of the boring things that he had never done as a teenager, reaching milestones that would have seemed small to others but big to him. He got his first flat tire. He broke his finger for a non-violent reason. He lost his virginity. He finished a book series. A human way of life was really seeming to suit him. 

"Alright, I'm going to bed," Theo eventually sighed, getting up off the loveseat next to the couch Liam was laying on. Liam offered a small grunt of acknowledgement and Theo trudged off to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

His phone was still in his hand just in case James wanted to update him on his apparent smallpox as he brushed his teeth, but the notification he got wasn't what he was expecting. The phone started vibrating and didn't stop, so he looked down to see that he was getting a call.

**Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital**

Answer | Decline | Send to Voicemail

Why the hospital was calling him was beyond him. No one he knew had listed him as their next of kin or emergency contact, so while it would have been concerning if he was, there was absolutely no reason to be contacted at all. He spat out the minty foam into the sink, wiped his mouth, and pressed the answer button. "Hello?" He asked hesitantly, brows furrowed. He leaned against the counter.

"Hi, Theo," The familiar voice of Melissa McCall said. At one point, Theo would have dreaded hearing Scott's mom's greeting, but now it felt like an old friend. "Listen, I know that this is unusual, but...something's happened."

"Is it someone I know?" Theo asked, the crease in his forehead becoming deeper with confusion and worry. 

"Well...not exactly?" Melissa added, a hint of question to her voice. "Do you remember, um, having sex with a woman recently? Some time within the last ten months?"

Theo thought, the facts not having registered in his mind yet. "...Yes?" He asked. "Did I give her some weird disease? I swear to god I was tested, and I-"

"Theo, I don't want to know about your STI testing. You need to get down here. I can't explain now, but get here as soon as you can."

Hearing the urgency in Melissa's voice was enough to get Theo to agree, rinsing his mouth out with water and grabbing a jacket on his way out. "I'm going out, don't wait up!"

"Thought you were going to bed?" Liam called from the couch, raising an eyebrow but keeping his eyes set on the book.

"Change of plans! Bye!"

Theo got to the hospital as soon as he could. The words "hospital" and "explain" and "get here as soon as you can" weren't a combination that settled well for him, so if he was speeding down the roads, he couldn't even blame himself.

Melissa was waiting in the parking lot for him, and she barely allowed him any time to straighten himself out before he was being tugged by his wrist inside. "Melissa, what are you doing? Where are we going?"

"I couldn't tell you this over the phone, it just didn't seem right," Melissa muttered. Theo neglected to notice the labels of the halls they were passing through, and he found himself in a dimly-lit room with an empty bed.

"Are you commiting me or something?" Theo joked, but Melissa had a pensive look on her face that set him at unease. "Seriously, what's going on? Why am I here at eleven o'clock?"

Melissa bit her lip nervously and nodded towards the far corner of the room. Her hands shook as she lifted something up off of a small table, and motioned for Theo to come look.

"...you brought me here to see a baby?" Theo asked. The pieces were starting to come together now, what Melissa had said about sleeping with someone, the timeframe, and the STIs, but his brain was still convinced that the truth wasn't happening. 

"Theo...your baby."

Theo paused, drawing in a breath and squaring his shoulders. "'My baby?'"

Melissa nodded once. "Yours."

She let that sink in, watching as the blank look on Theo's face change to one of scepticism and then to utter confusion. "My baby. My...my baby?" He asked incredulously, starting to freak out. The baby in Melissa's arms fussed, and the older woman shushed him.

"Maybe you should sit down. You look like you're going to pass out." Theo agreed with a weak nod and sat down on the hospital bed, Melissa following suit. 

"I have a baby?" Theo asked, swallowing down the lump in his throat and looking at Melissa for the first time since she had originally said it. He couldn't bring himself to look at the newborn in Melissa's arms, not yet. The sinking feeling in his stomach wasn't going away.

"Normally, if you weren't aware of the mother being pregnant, we wouldn't call, but..." Melissa trailed off. There was pain in her eyes. "Security footage showed that the mother left shortly after birth. She left her child here, and you're the person who we call first to arrange future plans."

Theo felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. "I..." He swallowed once again, his mouth dry and his throat feeling thick. "She's gone?" Melissa put a hand on Theo's shoulder, and he knew his answer. "I'm a dad?"

While all of this was overwhelming, Theo knew that one thing he felt was utterly confused. There was a newborn in front of him, a human being who required care and attention and love, a baby. His son or daughter. "C-can I?" Theo asked, knowing he wasn't ready, but doing it anyway. His eyes were shut as Melissa carefully arranged the small baby in his arms. 

"Be careful to support her head," She whispered, guiding Theo's hand to rest under the soft and hot skin of the baby's head.

"'She?'" Theo asked. "I have a daughter? I have a daughter," he repeated. Melissa smiled softly and sympathetically, understanding that Theo was pretty far into shock. 

"She's beautiful, Theo. Open your eyes."

Theo trembled as he willed himself to look down at his arms. The warm weight of his daughter pressing into him was overwhelming enough, but seeing her was all different. She had a smattering of darkish hair on her head, little eyelids closed over tiny eyes. Theo gasped lightly through his mouth as he tuned in on her heartbeat. 

The animal inside of him was telling him that this was right. He had a daughter now, a pup, like a true wolf his age was supposed to. The human side of him, however, wasn't allowing him to feel the instinctual bliss. Although he was supposed to be happy as a human and as a wolf, the thoughts swirling around his head were making him dizzy. "Melissa," he breathed, and Melissa seemed to understand what Theo was trying to say without him having to say it.

"You have options," she said softly. "We can't make the mother take the baby, but we have people looking for her. There's always adoption, or you could find someone to take her in," Melissa said, trying to help Theo in any way she could.

"No," Theo said as sharply as he could despite his throat feeling like it was full of cotton. "I...no." 

As Theo looked down at the unnamed girl, the one thing that he knew for now was that he couldn't give her up. A life without a parent to love you is not a life that Theo would wish upon anyone, and he was determined, no matter how much of an inexperienced father he would be, to at least be there. "I can't put her up for adoption. The rest of my family is dead, I-" Theo's voice broke. "She's what I have now, and I can't do the same to her."

Melissa nodded slowly and rubbed his shoulder. "I need to go get some paperwork," She said lightly, leaving Theo alone with his daughter.

The more Theo looked at her, the more his brain became clear and his heart slowed down. Maybe this could work. Even if he hadn't expected this, he was willing to try.

His phone had been haphazardly tossed onto the bed next to him, and it started to vibrate. A text from Liam. 

**Liam** \- I'm about to go to bed, are you okay?

Oh, Liam. This would be such a burden on him, his roommate suddenly bringing home a baby. He had to tell him sooner or later, and common sense told him that sooner was the best option. Liam didn't get a text back and instead got a call.

Theo understood now why Melissa couldn't tell Theo over the phone, because the chimera couldn't exactly find the right words either. "Accidental pregnancy" or "I have a kid now" didn't seem right, so he told Liam that he was okay, but he needed to get down to the hospital right now.

Theo waited in silence while Liam drove and Melissa got the paperwork. He occupied himself by looking around at the room, since it was getting to be too much to look at the baby, and he checked his phone for any Liam updates. 

The sound of frantic and quick footsteps outside the hospital room door arose him from his haze, and his eyes snapped up from the floor to a very concerned looking Liam. "Theo?" He asked, his eyebrows raised at the older boy. The chimera beckoned Liam to come sit next to him.

When Liam looked at Theo's daughter for the first time, Theo would never forget the way that Liam's breath caught in his throat. 

Now the house wasn't the only place that was silent, but the difference was that this was nothing close to a comfortable silence. Theo couldn't read Liam's chemosignals at all, and neither one of them had anything they could say. "Theo-" Liam whispered again.

"She's mine," Theo croaked, trying to get his words out before they stopped entirely. "The mother had her and left, and I...Liam, I'm so sorry."

Liam shook his head. "Don't be sorry, it's okay," Liam shot back, raising a shaking hand and resting it under Theo's to support her head more. At any other point, Theo would have paid close attention to Liam touching him, but now his friend only offered relief in this time of stress.

"I'm keeping her, and I can find a place to go. It won't be hard, I'll look tomorrow," Theo muttered. Liam scowled.

"What? Like hell you're gonna find a place! You're staying!"

"You don't want me to go?" Theo asked, his voice unsteady. Liam scoffed.

"I can't believe you thought I would just let you and your daughter just leave? Who the hell do you take me for?" Liam's hand pressed against the one Theo had under the baby's head even firmer, the heat giving him a sense of reassurance. "I'm gonna help you with this."

Theo could barely breathe. "Do you want to hold her?" He offered, and Liam nodded, a small smile crossing his lips. Theo passed the baby to his friend, since he would undoubtedly know more of what to do with a tiny baby like her. Liam was an only child, but at least he had been a human for far longer than Theo had.

Unnamed opened her eyes for the first time for Theo to see when she felt her weight shift, fussing around and waving a tiny fist slightly. "Oh," Liam breathed. "She's, um, she's got your eyes, Theo, look." 

For the first time since seeing his daughter, he grinned. "Christ," He sighed, rubbing his watery eyes with the heel of his palm. "I have a kid and suddenly I'm all soft."

While the two admired Theo's daughter, Unnamed looked around curiously, seemingly unphased that her mother was nowhere in sight. It must have been something to do with instinct. Thinking this, Liam wondered: "Do you think she's got any powers like we do?" 

Theo had to admit that it was a good question. He knew who the mother was, and he had met her at a bar where there were several other supernatural beings there. There was a chance she could've been one, but he would never really be sure. "Unless the mother was supernatural, I don't think so. I wasn't a born or bitten werewolf, so...it's all up in the air."

"You still carry the DNA, though," Liam mentioned. "We'll have to be careful. I'm not sure what goes into taking care of a werewolf baby," Liam joked, and Theo let himself laugh. With Liam there, this was a whole lot easier.

Melissa came back into the room with some paperwork for Theo, smiling softly when she saw that Liam had arrived. "Hi, Liam. I should've known you'd be here."

"Hey, Mrs. McCall," he greeted, not looking up from the girl in his arms. "So, um...this is interesting."

All three of them laughed, the nervous tension in the room being melted slowly but surely by Liam's presence. "Okay, Theo. I know that this is all really sudden, but I do need you to fill some things out. One thing is definitely needed sooner or later...We need to know what you plan to do custody-wise, and you can't really have a baby without a name, after all."

Both of these questions were still debated hours later.

\---

"Willow because I like it," Theo said to Liam after a long time of debating names. "And then her middle name is Eden."

Liam tried to bite his tongue, but found that he couldn't. Theo was now laying in a different bed in a different room since the hospital had to keep Willow for checkups, and Liam was sitting in a chair by the bed. Willow was resting quietly on Theo's shoulder. "Eden?" He asked, biting back a smirk. "You know that Eden is a biblical name, and you've...literally..."

"Been to Hell?" Theo finished, flashing a smirk to Liam. "Maybe that's why I like it."

"Okay, chimera of death," Liam sighed, sitting up straighter in his seat so he could look at Theo and Willow. "Willow Eden. I'll remember it."

Looking at Theo and Willow, Liam decided he needed to take a picture of it. He took out his phone and got them both in the frame, making sure that the angle was good and that it captured how Theo looked at Willow. "What are you doing?" He mumbled tiredly, since the fact that it was now two AM was starting to set in. 

"You're gonna want pictures once we get home," Liam explained, and Theo looked amusedly at the camera. He could see the dark circles under his eyes and his slightly messed up hair, but Liam still couldn't help but think he looked perfect. "I'm sure Melissa took some, too. She's always snapping stealth-pictures."

\---

An hour later, Theo was starting to drift off. The hospital bed wasn't too comfy, but his wolf was satisfied in a way it had never been before now that it knew that Willow was a permanent fixture. Theo listened closely to her heartbeat and her long, snuffling breaths, only looking away to check on the second baby in the room, Liam.

His friend was currently trying to get comfortable in the chair next to the bed, and Theo was starting to feel his neck hurt in sympathy. As Liam let out a somewhat frustrated sigh while he tried to find a position, Theo gave a sleepy smile. "You can go home, if you want to," He offered, but Liam shook his head.

"Nope, not leaving you." 

Theo knew how stubborn Liam was when it came to his actions, so he carefully moved over on the bed, making sure not to wake Willow up. "Then come up here. I'm not going to watch you break your back trying to sleep in that."

Liam stood up and looked hesitant until Theo patted the space next to him with his free hand, which Liam took gratefully. It was a close fit, but neither minded, the alternative being a lot less comfortable.

As Theo dozed off to sleep listening to both of their heartbeats, he felt Liam's head drop onto his shoulder and his hand move to touch Willow's back protectively. As if his wolf couldn't be any more content, feeling Liam next to him and his daughter on top of him sent the normally restless animal into a state of relaxation.

He barely had time to register that his heartbeat was starting to match with the two laying next to him before he fell to sleep.


	2. Jaundice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo didn't expect parenting an accidental kid to be easy, but he certainly hadn't expected the panic that came with it.

Bringing Willow home was easier than expected. Melissa helped them by getting one of Scott's old car seats from her house so they could take her home, but other than that, they had very little. Willow had only the clothes and hat that the hospital provided for clothes, and a few bottles of formula and diapers, but that was it. 

"We need to go to the store soon," Liam said, "But we should probably get some things figured out first. Like...where are we going to put her things once we have them?" He avoided the money question, because the two young guys were obviously unprepared to answer it. Theo made enough as a bartender and often got a lot of tips for his charm, and Liam worked as a waiter, but they weren't sure what kind of cash they would need when it came to baby food and supplies. They were only twenty one and nineteen, after all, so it was beyond their skillset. 

Theo nodded in agreement. He hadn't put down Willow since she'd been taken out of the carseat, and his arms were beginning to get tired from holding her, but he wasn't about to put her down. The car seat was weirdly complicated to get back out of the car (they would undoubtedly have to get one they could carry like some of their friends with babies had) and Theo didn't feel right putting a newborn who couldn't hold her head up on the couch. 

He was becoming a protective father already, and Liam would be lying if he said he didn't love his devotion to her already. 

It was now eight o'clock the next morning, a Saturday, meaning that most of their friends wouldn't be at work. "We kind of have to tell people, eventually," Liam mentioned, and Theo nodded again, more focused on the way Willow was now starting to shuffle around and whine. "What's wrong?"

"I think she might be hungry," Theo muttered, seeing as though he couldn't smell anything bad and she hadn't eaten since they'd given her some formula in the hospital earlier that morning. "I know babies have to eat a lot."

Liam reached into the bag Melissa had given them full of the hospital-provided things, pulling out a bottle of formula. "Um," He said at first. "You by any chance know how to heat formula?"

This seemed like their first test as parents, if they could even be called that. Theo paused, knowing well and good he had no idea how to heat it, but tried to remember anyway. "We can figure it out," he said dismissively, and Liam gave him a sceptical look. "What? You don't think we can?"

"I think we should call somebody for help," Liam said, "Since neither of us have ever even babysat before."

"No, we don't need help," Theo argued. "Here, give me the bottle, I can figure it out."

"Theo-" Liam sighed, and Willow let out a pitiful little cry.

"Oh, shit," He whispered, looking down at his crying daughter. "Hey, hey, it's okay! Daddy's got you!" His babytalk didn't help to soothe things at all, and the squeaky wails got progressively louder. He was starting to panic.

"Call for help?" Liam asked, and Theo put his annoyance aside in place of genuine fear and nodded.

Liam called the one person he knew who could help: Lydia. She had a one-year-old, so she would know what to do in the event of having to feed a baby. She must have been still asleep, because she picked up on the last ring and sounded tired. "Hello?" She asked, not hearing the soft cries in the background.

"Hey, Lydia, did I wake you up? Sorry," Liam apologized, not waiting for an answer. "So, quick question: hypothetically, how would someone heat baby formula?" He heard movement on the other end, most likely Lydia sitting up in bed. 'who is it?' someone said tiredly, to which Lydia whispered 'Liam.'

"Liam," She said slowly, sounding more awake by the second. "What's going on?"

"It's uh- It's for a college thing! I need to do research on it."

Lydia narrowed her eyes and listened closely. A particularly loud wail came from the phone. "Where did you acquire a baby?" She asked rather loudly, and Jordan sat up in bed next to her.

"Liam has a baby?" He asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and Lydia shrugged her shoulders, eyes now wide.

"That's not really the most important question..." Liam trailed, knowing that Lydia wasn't going to take that as an answer. 

"I'm on my way right now," Lydia shot, throwing the covers off. "Jordan's coming with me."

"Oh, what?" Parrish groaned tiredly, forcing himself up out of bed and following his wife. When Lydia said you were going somewhere, you followed. 

Lydia hung up on Liam and he was left back to the crying baby and crying Theo. "Why are you upset?" Liam asked, seeing the tears of frustration leaving the chimera's eyes. Theo was right: he had a kid and suddenly went soft. Theo shrugged. 

"I don't know, she won't stop!" He said defensively. He tried bouncing her, rocking her, and even singing to her. "You take her!"

"It's your kid!" Liam said, backing up. 

"She's basically yours' too, she lives here!"

"I wasn't the one who impregnated somebody, you hoe!" 

Their argument was cut short by the doorbell, and Theo took that advantage to pass Willow to Liam and go answer it. "Hey," He said breathlessly and as casually as possible, despite the fact that his eyes were rimmed red from trying not to break down in tears and his clothes were fucked up from holding the baby. Lydia raised an eyebrow at him, seeing right past his false calmness and listening for the familiar cry of the baby. "Come on in!"

Jordan held his own son in the car seat carrier that Theo had been thinking about earlier, looking around Liam and Theo's new house. The two hadn't even done anything for housewarming yet, so it was the first time in the new place and also the first time meeting somebody's son or daughter. Theo lead them upstairs to the main level from the foyer, leading them to the living room. 

Liam had managed to get Willow to calm down considerably more than Theo did, but she was still whining and whimpering. "Jesus Christ," Lydia sighed, taking off her purse and setting it on the coffee table. She joined Liam on the couch, looking interestedly at the small child there while Parrish and Theo stood by confusedly. 

"Hey," Jordan said, trying not to make things awkward. The two of them had never really talked outside of Theo being put in a jail cell on a few separate occasions, so he wasn't quite sure how to talk to the reformed Chimera. He nodded back and glanced down at Jordan and Lydia's son, Aiden, who was looking around like babies do, his eyes focused mostly on the ceiling fan intently. 

"Where's the formula?" Lydia said, and Liam pointed to the TV stand where Theo had set it down in a hurry. She grabbed it and beckoned for everyone to follow her into the kitchen, where she turned on the hot water, testing it with her fingers before running the bottle under it. "Do you have a baby bottle?" She asked, and Liam and Theo had to just shake their heads dumbly. "Didn't think so. Jordan, can you-" She started to ask, but the deputy was already handing her a bottle. "Aiden never used this one, it's okay," she assured, even though neither of the overwhelmed boys would have even thought to ask that. That was probably the kind of mindset they needed to get into if they were going to raise a baby.

She transferred the warmed formula into a bottle and made sure to hold it steady. "If you shake it, it gets air bubbles, and a baby that small isn't going to handle gas well. How old is it?"

"She's barely even twenty-four hours," Theo sighed, running a hand through his slightly grown-out hair. Lydia nodded and showed the two boys how to do fill the bottle the right way. "Here, I'll do it."

Lydia tested the formula for temperature in her hand before passing it over to Theo, who took Willow back from Liam. He angled the bottle towards her mouth, and after a few failed attempts, Willow finally understood what she was meant to do and started to suck from the bottle. 

The four adults plus two babies went into the living room, Lydia sitting next to Theo on the couch while Liam and Jordan sat on the loveseat. "So...you wanna explain to me how you got a baby?"

Theo and Liam must not have looked like they knew where to start, so Jordan supplied them with simpler questions. "What's her name?"

"Willow," Theo said, finally relaxing after his daughter started eating. "Her name is Willow."

"Pretty," Jordan said, smiling, but Lydia was more focused on the real questions. 

"We got her yesterday night. I got a call from the hospital around ten thirty that I needed to get down there, and..." Theo trailed off. "The mother abandoned her. She's mine."

Lydia's stern, motherly stare softened with sympathy. "I did get a radio call about an abandoned child," Jordan remembered. "They still haven't found her."

"It's okay. She didn't want her anyway, so I don't want her around my daughter." Theo's voice hardened when he said 'my daughter,' and Liam's heart jumped for some reason. He let his guard down now as he said, "I just never knew about her until right now."

"She's a beautiful baby, Theo," Lydia whispered, a soft smile on her face. "I'm so sorry."

Theo shook his head, but said nothing. His feelings regarding Willow would only spiral into him either freaking out or crying or admitting something he didn't feel like talking about at the moment, things like how his wolf felt so right with Liam in bed next to him and that he had been calmer now than he had been in all of two decades. Those were discussions better saved for later. 

"You can call us whenever you need help. I have work, and so does Jordan, but for today we're here for you, and I'll always try to get there when you need me," Lydia assured, patting Theo's shoulder. "Does anyone know about this yet besides us?"

Liam shook his head. "You were the first people I thought to call."

"Not even your parents, Liam?" Jordan asked. 

"If I called them now, they would come and crowd," Liam explained. "Theo didn't even want me to call you for help."

Theo rolled his eyes, but didn't really mean anything with it. Eventually, Willow was done eating and Theo put the bottle back on the coffee table. "Thanks for the bottle, Lydia," He said, and Lydia nodded.

"You can keep it. But you are going to need help," Lydia said matter-of-factly, and Theo admitted that they did. "And the rest of the pack wouldn't turn their backs on you. No matter what the past held."

With these words in mind, Theo smiled lightly. "Sorry I yelled at you, Li," Theo apologized.

"Sorry I called you a hoe."

Theo suddenly remembered something. "I can't cover that shift tonight, can I?"

\---

Even though Theo had been sceptical of Lydia's words about the pack being helpful, she was right, just as Lydia normally was. Theo had to learn sooner or later that you shouldn't underestimate her.

Over the next week, some of the pack and Liam's parents had met the newest member of the family, as Scott called her affectionately, despite  Theo hadn't expected this to have such an affect on him, but he had honestly expected Willow to be approached with caution. It felt like Willow was more a part of the large McCall pack than he was, but Theo was happy in the best way about that. She deserved a chance in the world, and Scott and Liam's friends could offer that. 

Liam eventually called Jenna and David, who came over a few hours later bearing a large basket of things. They were the first and most important people to come and see the baby, and Jenna had promptly freaked out over the phone when she found out. Some of the things in the white basket were from when Liam was a baby, like a blanket and rattle, but a lot of them were new. "Mrs. Geyer, you really didn't have to do this," Theo had said, but Jenna just shook her head, setting the well-decorated basket down on the coffee table. Where Jenna had found time to put together a professional-looking arrangement Theo had no idea, but like Lydia, it was best not to question Liam's mom.

"How many times have I told you to call me Jenna? And I know, but I want to. You and Liam are so close, this is basically my granddaughter."

Theo tried not to think about how bright red Liam turned and how he had to leave the room after his mother said that. 

Mason and Corey saw them next. They didn't have any kids, so they didn't have anything to bring, but Corey had picked up a couple of things from the store anyway despite Theo telling them that they didn't need it. "Of course you need stuff," He had said, putting the shopping bag down as Mason went to go talk to Liam. "It's a kid, and you didn't have the nine months to prepare that most people need and have. When you have a baby shower, there'll be more."

"Baby shower?" Theo asked. He'd heard about those after countless hours of scanning mommy blogs the night before, but he didn't think that was necessarily applicable here. "It's a little late for that, isn't it?"

"Maybe, but Mason and Liam already set one up," he said. Theo rolled his eyes. 

"Liam!" He groaned. Liam already knew what he was going to say.

"I was gonna tell you tonight, it's next Saturday!" Liam said defensively, since it was no longer a question of whether or not they were having it, it was that Theo was going to have to get used to the idea of people helping them and that they needed to choose decorations for the party.

After Mason and Corey, Hayden eventually made her way over to Theo and Liam's house with her girlfriend Cora, Derek's sister. Cora never really got used to being empathetic, so she wasn't sure what all the fuss was about, but Liam knew that his ex had a soft spot for babies. She worked at a daycare, after all, so she had to be. "Oh, she's so cute!" She outwardly squealed. Since Theo had taken on his protective-dad likeness with pride, he winced at the pitch of her words, afraid that Willow would start crying. "When's the shower?"

"This Saturday. I know it's short notice, but-"

"But you need things now, I understand. Have you taken her out of the house at all?"

It had only been three days with Willow so far, and neither of them had left the house at all. Theo shook his head. "Her follow-up is on Thursday, but we haven't taken her outside since then."

"Understandable. Valerie had a baby recently, and she and her husband didn't leave the house for at least a week. She was a mess, but she was happy," Hayden said, shrugging her shoulders. "Well, I'll be there for the shower! Cora will, too, right Cor?"

Cora looked away from the window. "What? Oh, yeah," She said disinterestedly, which Hayden rolled her eyes at and the two boys brushed off. 

\---

The morning after that, Theo woke up to Willow next to him. They didn't have a crib for her yet, and while the human baby blogs sometimes told him not to sleep with the baby in the bed, he took the word for the ones who said it was okay and did it anyway. Like hell she was sleeping on a pillow or a blanket where Theo couldn't see her. 

Willow had become the most important thing in Theo's life, without a doubt. His passion came through whenever he talked about her, even if it was something simple. It had never occurred to Theo that babies didn't blink too often or at all, so when he saw it for the first time, he had rushed to Liam's room and woken him up to tell him all about it as though he'd won the lottery. His work was actually really understanding of his situation, and he had his good boss to thank for that: if Peter didn't own the bar he worked at, he probably wouldn't have been able to stay off for this long. Everything else was put on the backburner for his daughter, and he didn't go a minute of any day without thinking about her.

That was probably why he was so terrified to notice that Willow was  _orange_. She had been starting to tan a little bit day by day, which Theo had written off as a normal thing (she had been bright red at one point too, so what was the difference now) but now he registered that she was dark. 

He sat up in bed with a start and could hardly breathe. Liam was already at work, since somebody had to be putting in an effort to make money for rent, so he did the first thing he could: called Lydia. He'd taken her offer up to ask for help multiple times in the past few days, and she always gave the best advice. This time, though, it wasn't calm at all like it had been before. "Lydia!" He all but yelled into the phone, not even thinking about the fact that it was nine AM and Lydia was probably at work. "Why the fuck is Willow orange?"

Theo heard a small, stifled laugh on the other end. "Don't freak out, Theo," she started. "It's called jaundice, and it's common for newborns. It just means that her liver is a little underdeveloped and her skin is tinted. The whites of her eyes might be a little yellow too, and it should go away in a week or two."

Theo had since googled "Jaundice" (spelled completely wrong since he had never heard of it: jondise) after Lydia said it. "It says that it's because she has too much bilirubin in her blood. That sounds bad, Lydia," he hissed, not understanding how Lydia could be so calm about this.

"Bilirubin is just a yellow pigment. She's not in danger, she's not in pain, and it's not life-threatening. If you're that worried, ask about it at your follow-up." Lydia's voice was steady and reassuring, and Theo started to calm a little. He looked over at Willow, who was still asleep in the middle of his mattress. 

"Thanks, Lydia." After that scare, his heart was still racing and his breathing was heavy, and he felt like he needed to go back to sleep. Going back to work was going to be a nightmare, one that he didn't even want to think about.

"No problem, Theo." Lydia sounded like she was going to hang up, but she didn't. "Theo?"

"Yeah?"

"I know you're hyper-focused on Willow right now, but just remember that your health matters too." Lydia paused. "If you're anxious, it's okay to let loose a little bit. Does Liam know?"

"About the jaundice or about my anxiety?"

"Either. Make sure he knows that you're overwhelmed. I know you're not looking for help, but it'll feel so much better once you tell someone how you're feeling." Theo's breaths started to slow, but his heartrate stayed up. "Listen, I have to go, I'm at work. Think about what I said, okay?"

"Thanks, Lyd," Theo sighed. "Sorry to bother you at work."

"It's no problem, I promise. Be safe, okay?"

"Bye."

Theo let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and sat down on the edge of his bed. He glanced down at Willow once before looking down at his grey carpeted floor, and for the first time since Willow was born about a week ago, he cried.

As much as he didn't like crying, he knew he needed to let it out. So he let the tears fall, tried to breathe as well as he could and keep himself from falling into a pit of his panic. Theo had felt fear before, but never like this. It didn't compare to running from the ghostriders, it didn't match the anxiety of a new test from the Dread Doctors, and his literal night terrors never left him this drained. The only thing that even came close to the terror he had felt in that moment was when he had seen Liam almost get shot by hunters in the hospital. 

Losing someone he cared about was the only thing that got his heart racing like this, and the thought of anything happening to Willow made him feel like there was a giant lead ball in the bottom of his stomach.

Willow's little breaths were what stopped him from his spiral, looking over to her and wiping his eyes and teartracked cheeks. A tiny, squeaky wail came from her when she woke up, and Theo was relieved to see that she was still her same little self, just a little more orange. Her eyelids scrunched up and she opened her mouth in a yawn, showing all of the zero teeth she had, whining for attention.

Theo picked her up before she could get too upset, as he did every morning. "Hey, Willa," He whispered, sniffling slightly but feeling a smile creep onto his face as Willow leaned into his hold. "You hungry? Yeah, let's go get some of that milk," He narrated. In that vast, overwhelming sea of parenting advice and facts, he'd learned that if you talked about what you were doing to your baby, she would develop language. Even though Willow was still only days old, he was willing to try it.

As he sat on the couch and fed Willow, he was distracted briefly by his phone lighting up. Liam's face came up, and he stilled for a second before answering. "Hello? Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine...Lydia told me to check up on you, are you okay?" Liam's concerned voice asked, and Theo felt his heart skip. 

"At the moment, yeah. Lydia thinks Willow has jaundice, and I may have called her and freaked out."

"Oh, Jaundice?" Liam said almost affectionately. "I had that as a baby. I was bright orange in some of my pictures, I'm sure my mother would be happy to prove it."

"Yeah, I just woke up, and she was super dark all the sudden. I knew she had been looking a little darker yesterday, but her mother was a little tan, so I thought it was just that."

Theo's laugh was weak, and Liam could hear it over the phone. He was hiding out in the corner of the diner he worked at, hoping his manager didn't notice him. He would've waited until his lunch break, but the way Lydia had said it made him so worried that he needed to call Theo right then. His roommate didn't seem quite right, either. "Are you sure you're alright?" Liam asked.

Theo thought more about what Lydia had said about talking to Liam about what he was feeling. "We'll talk when you get home, okay?" Theo asked, and Liam agreed. "I'll see you in a couple hours."

"Wait! Can I talk to Willow?" Liam asked, and Theo smiled. 

"You want to talk to the baby?"

Although Theo couldn't see it, Liam turned red on the other end of the line. "It's my first day back, I miss the kid, okay?"

"Alright," Theo put the phone on speaker. "Go ahead."

Liam talked to Willow in his baby voice, which Theo absolutely adored. Possibly the only thing cuter than Willow was Liam and Willow together.

After Liam was done aimlessly talking to Willow, Theo said goodbye and regretfully hung up. He wished Liam was still there to help him, but it was hard to be sad with Willow on his shoulder. For now, he could wait. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if this was portrayed right since I'm bad at writing angst since I'm out of practice.


	3. Genotype/Phenotype

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam comes back to comfort Theo. Theo and Liam find out a little more about Willow's background. The pack begins to make amends, all with a very protective-father Theo.

As soon as Liam's shift was over at five PM, he took his apron off and ran out of there like there was nothing holding him back. Theo and Willow were waiting for him back home, and what Theo had said had been haunting him all day: We'll talk when you get home. He had no idea what that would entail, whether it was good or bad, but he needed to hear it.

Life with Willow was hard, to say the least, but it was interesting as well. Liam had never seen Theo so happy but so stressed, so screwed up but still so beautiful. It was normal to find that Theo was still asleep when he was leaving for work, just as it had been that morning, or coming home to see that Theo and Willow had fallen asleep on the couch or in bed as early as four or five in the afternoon. 

Even if things were different, though, Liam knew that Theo couldn't imagine life without Willow in it, and neither could he. While last week Liam wouldn't be in a rush to get home or wake up, he did everything with the knowledge that two sets of green eyes would be greeting him when he got there. 

Liam and Theo loved the Chimera's daughter, and Liam loved him. He had been debating it before, whether or not his feelings were just him projecting or getting distracted by the moving process, but Willow had come into their lives and shaken things up enough that made Liam have to sort out his thoughts. In a lot of those long, drawn-out conversations with himself, things seemed to come to a general stance: He was falling for Theo. Nothing compared to the way his heart picked up whenever he saw Willow and Theo, and now that Theo was starting to exhibit his love towards his daughter, both sides of him, wolf and human, were telling him to make Theo his already. Even if the chimera didn't share those feelings, he still needed to be around him.

So he rushed home in his car just as fast as he had when Theo called from the hospital. If Theo needed him, he was going to be there, no matter what. It was already hard enough having to sit through work knowing Theo needed him back home, so he wasn't going to let a slow drive delay it any longer. All day, he had messed up orders, forgotten which tables ordered what, and even dropped a tray of water on the floor, and he was a little beyond caring that his boss was annoyed at him. 

When he pulled into his driveway, he opened his car door with a bit more force than was really necessary and just about ran, and he could see that Theo was looking out the window for him. When he saw Liam out there, he put Willow down on the couch and ran downstairs to the front door, tossing it open and seeing that Liam was in just as much of a rush as he was.

The two met in the middle of the walkway, and Liam threw caution to the wind and wrapped his arms around Theo's middle before saying anything. Maybe it was Theo's first time stepping outside since Willow had been brought home, but he didn't have time to notice the cool April nighttime air on his skin or the wind blowing through his shirt as he was burying his face into the crook of Liam's neck. "God, I missed you," He breathed when they pulled away. Liam's face read pure worry and he nodded towards the front door, and Theo followed him inside.

Liam went straight to the couch where he had seen Theo put Willow down, and she was contentedly staring up at the ceiling. "Hi, baby," he sighed, picking her up and placing her against his chest, just like Theo did. "How are you? You said we needed to talk when I got home, and I'm all ears."

Theo shook his head. "Get settled first. You can change out of your uniform and use the bathroom before I start," He said, and Liam nodded, but didn't put Willow down. Instead, he took her to his room with him and didn't take his eyes off her no matter what, letting Theo have a few seconds of security away from her.

When Liam emerged, Theo was in the doorway of his bedroom, and he nodded for Liam to come in. They both sat on the edge of Theo's bed together, and Theo looked like he didn't quite know where to start.

To make the daunting conversation just a little easier, Liam asked the question for him so that Theo wouldn't have to talk alone. "What happened this morning?" He asked in a soft tone of voice. Theo had heard that voice from Jenna on a few occasions, and Liam had picked it up to be just as comforting as his mother. He was still holding Willow closely to his chest, which made Theo a little more relaxed, and the chimera rested his hands on his lap.

"I was nervous about you going back to work last night, so I didn't get to sleep until late. I didn't want to bother you because it's not your responsibility to take care of Willow anyway, so I left it." Liam looked like he wanted to say something in protest, but he let Theo keep talking. "And this morning I slept kind of late since I couldn't fall asleep, and I woke up, and Willow was next to me, but she was bright orange compared to yesterday." Theo sighed. "So I called Lydia, since I had no idea what was going on, and she told me about the jaundice and that it was just a blood pigmentation thing, but I..."

Liam had a free hand that he rested on Theo's shoulder, which let him breathe again. "I wasn't worried about the jaundice too much after that, and I know that Willow is okay, but Liam..." He swallowed thickly, feeling the tears that were starting to well in his eyes without permission. "I've never been more terrified in my entire life. I thought something had happened to her, and I can't even think about what I would do if something was actually wrong without my heart beating faster and my lungs feeling like they're closing."

"Theo, I'm so sorry," Liam whispered, leaning close to him, hoping that the contact would help to soothe him. At a time not too far from now, Theo would've leaned away from the touch or shoved him away, but tonight, he let himself be calmed by the heat of Liam's body against his. "I wish I could've been here for you."

Theo sniffed. "It's not your fault, and it's not your issue, anyway." Liam wanted to argue that it was his issue, that he loved the baby and he loved him, but it wasn't the time. It was just another conversation he'd have to hold back. "But I'm just...I'm so overwhelmed all the time. I haven't seen sunlight in a week and I haven't even had time to shave," Theo remembered, touching his chin that was covered in an almost-beard. "I know nothing about babies, human or supernatural, and I can't go a single second without thinking about her. I'm just so afraid that if I let my guard down once, she'll be gone."

"Hey," Liam breathed in the same quiet voice. "Babies aren't glass. They don't break that easily, especially if she's a chimera like you are."

"That's another thing!" Theo sighed. "I've got no idea what's going on with that, and I don't know if I even want her to have to deal with those powers. I'll love her all the same if she did, but it's such a burden that she shouldn't have to deal with. Once she gets bigger, she'll need more things and and more attention, and I don't know if I'm equipped to give it. Don't get me wrong, being her father has been the best thing that's ever happened to me, but I...I feel like I'm always messing something up."

Liam scoffed. "You are an amazing father. I might not know a lot about positive father figures, but I know that if I had someone like you growing up, I would be one of the luckiest people alive." The beta glanced down at Willow, who was slowly starting to lull herself to sleep, comforted by the familiar and soft noises of Theo and Liam's voices. "And I know that Willow is going to grow up and and be as strong as you are one day, chimera or not. She has a person who loves her...two people who love her. What more could you ask for?"

Theo rubbed his eyes, hard. "God, I'm sorry for dumping on you like this," He sighed regretfully. "My entire mindset has changed, and I just don't know how to deal with it anymore."

"No, I'm glad you told me. If you're this anxious, we need to work through it together. Which is why I'm going to take tomorrow and go to her follow-up with you. I want to be there for you and her, whenever I can."

With these words in mind, Theo smiled. "You know you're the best roommate anybody could ask for?" He reminded, though it felt all so wrong now to call the man holding his daughter just a 'roommate.' They both laughed anyway, no matter how much it may have mutually stung.

"And you too. Hey, she's still Willow," Liam said, catching himself before he could say 'our Willow,' "Just a little more tangerine-like."

"You did  _not_  just call my daughter a tangerine," Theo laughed tiredly, falling back on his bed, legs hanging off the side. 

"I did. Willow Eden Tangerine Raeken." Before he could stop himself, he wiped a few strands of hair out of Theo's face and pushed them back on his head, and Theo sighed with contentedness. "You're tired, you should sleep. And you're probably going to need a shower before the appointment tomorrow. I can watch her while you do, if you want," Liam said, but Theo shrugged.

"I'll take one tomorrow, and you can hold me to that, but I just want to sleep. Here, give me-" He groaned as he held his tired and sore arms out, motioning for Liam to let him take her.

"I can take her for tonight if you want to sleep. I know you wake up a million times when you sleep with her, I can hear you through the walls."

As much as a goodnight's sleep sounded like something he needed, Theo was still hesitant to leave Willow in another room. He had only left her a few times in the last week, and even then, she was only out of his sight for a few minutes at a time while he used the bathroom or grabbed something from upstairs. Liam seemed to sense his nerves, so he suggested something that he wasn't sure he should. "Ooorr...I can stay. I'll watch out for her while you sleep, and she can stay in your room."

Theo considered for a second and then nodded, positioning himself on one side of the bed while Liam headed for the chair in the corner of the room. "What are you doing?" Theo mumbled, eyelids half-closed. Liam paused.

"What?"

"You're not sleeping in the chair," He protested groggily, lifting up the covers for Liam to get under. Liam didn't hesitate this time as much as he did in the hospital, and got in next to him. This time, the fit wasn't that tight, but they were still subconsciously snuggled close. Willow fell all the way to sleep on Liam's chest while Theo moved closer to Liam, not giving a fuck anymore about what was acceptable. He fell asleep right after his daughter, leaving Liam the last one awake.

With both of his loves close to him, Liam's heartbeat started to slow to match the resting pace of Willow's and Theo's. His wolf screamed "Mate," but his last thought before he fell asleep was telling it to shut up.

\---

"Mr. Raeken-"

"Theo," Theo corrected. Doctor Patrick, the pediatrician Lydia and Melissa recommended, was a nice young woman with dark hair and dark eyes, but she seemed to want to refer to Theo like he was much older than twenty-one.

"Theo, I don't think you have anything to worry about. She's had all her vaccinations for awhile, and she is currently the picture of health." Theo had never heard that saying before, but he got from both Liam and her smile that it was good. 

Liam and Theo stood by the yellow and pink exam table while Doctor Patrick wrote things down on Willow's brand-new chart. She had assured him that everything was fine, but Liam could tell that the chimera was still nervous. "You're sure that there's nothing concerning about the jaundice?" He asked, wringing his hands nervously before picking Willow up off the table. Doctor Patrick shook her head and smiled reassuringly. 

"Your friend was right. Jaundice is something that you very rarely have to worry about. If her cries get more high-pitched, or she's hard to wake up, call back and we'll see what treatments we can do for her, but I'm confident that she will be okay." Theo nodded and Liam rubbed his shoulder, which was now a habit, and it got a smile from Doctor Patrick. "Are there any other questions?"

Liam snorted, the idea of Theo not having questions making him want to burst out with laughter. Theo ignored him and went ahead. "Is it okay that she barely blinks?"

"Babies tend to blink once or twice every minute on average, and she's doing just fine."

Theo seemed to think that his other questions weren't important, so he left them be. "So, I shouldn't worry too much about jaundice or blinking?" 

Doctor Patrick nodded. "One thing I am interested in knowing though: does Willow spend a lot of time lying down on her back? Is she in a crib or does she sleep with you?"

"Oh, I don't think putting her on her back is an issue, Theo barely ever puts her down," Liam laughed, motioning to the way Theo was focusing on making Willow comfy. Theo rolled his eyes but nodded, and Doctor Patrick chuckled. "And she sleeps with him in his bed. We haven't had a lot of time to get a lot of furniture for her, so she's been next to him."

"Good, that's good. Contact for babies is important, and it's also good that you don't leave her on her back too long. Babies' skulls aren't formed completely at this point, so she runs the risk of plagiocephaly, a flat head. But I don't think you need to worry about that either."

Liam noticed a poster on the pediatrician's wall that said SIDS: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and quickly stepped in front of it so Theo wouldn't see it. "Like I said, Willow has a clean bill of health. Whatever you two are doing, keep it up. Willow's very lucky to have two great dads like you."

"Oh, I'm not-" Liam chuckled, but Doctor Patrick didn't let him protest, since she was already slipping outside so she could grab some paperwork for them to fill out. 

\---

After the human doctor, Theo and Liam decided to take Liam to Deaton. While Theo was reluctant to bring her to a place full of wolfsbane and mistletoe (What if she's more sensitive to it!) Liam convinced him that they could all benefit from it. 

Liam drove the car while Theo had Willow's carseat in his lap. "You know, I was starting to get used to your beard," Liam mentioned, and Theo almost blushed. 

"Aw, are you sad to see it gone?" He teased, and Liam rolled his eyes lightheartedly. "I'm sure you could grow one too."

"I don't want one on me, I was just saying..." Liam trailed off. There was no casual way to say that he thought Theo's beard was hot. "We're almost there." Theo didn't pay any more attention to Liam's slipup, starting to get ready for Deaton's appointment.

When they walked into the vet's office, Deaton seemed to already have been expecting them. "Ah! Theo! I was wondering when you'd come in! Melissa and Scott told me all about your situation."

While it kind of irked Theo to call this a "situation," he gave him a trying smile and followed the veterinarian into the back, where the cold, metal table sat in the middle. Instead of setting Willow down on it, he just sat there with her. "I was just wondering if there's any way to find out if she has...well, powers."

Deaton thought for a second. "I could do a DNA test on the two of you, see if she shares any of your chimera genetics," He suggested. "It would, however, have to be a blood test."

Theo restrained the low growl in his throat, and Liam flinched upon hearing it, giving him a look. He didn't want to do it, despite trusting Deaton. "Your chimera DNA is heavily focused inside your bloodstream, and there's no way to tell for sure until she's older if I don't test it."

"With a needle," Theo emphasized flatly, narrowing his eyes. 

This seemed like i was worse than it was. It wasn't the needles that bothered him, it was just that Willow was only a week old and was already being subjected to tests similar to the ones he had. The blood-taking and reading was only the tip of the iceberg, and he couldn't bare to think about her going through the same things he did. It left a bad taste in his mouth to be reminded of all the times he was poked and prodded with needles. 

"That's generally how blood is taken, yes," The wise druid said, not letting the emotions in the room get in the way of his work. 

Theo grumbled to himself for a second, deciding to just suck this one up and deal with it. He handed Liam the baby and yanked his sleeve up, revealing a muscular bicep that Liam tried his hardest not to stare at. "Let's just get this over with," He sighed, motioning for Deaton to use the needle on him.

Liam cringed as the long, silver needle pierced the skin of Theo's arm, but the chimera stayed stoic, not even blinking at the pinch. Liam's heart lurched when he realized that Theo was still used to this, sensitized to the pain and experimentation from his earlier years. He tried not to dwell on it too much, because the last thing he needed was Theo getting concerned about his chemosignals and asking what was wrong.

Willow seemed to notice that something was happening with her dad, because she started fussing for him. The vet paused with the needle still in Theo's arm, (which made Liam's squeamish self want to throw up, pass out, or both) and looked over at Willow. "That could be something," He mentioned cautiously. "The family bond you have. A child that young wouldn't be able to tell that needles are bad unless she knows you're in pain." 

Theo looked over at his daughter, whose face was crumpled into an upset expression, and gave her a smile. She whined and huffed, but seeing that her dad was okay seemed to calm her down. 

Soon enough, a vial of Theo's dark, thick red blood was ready for testing, and as soon as he got the contraption out of his arm, he went straight to hold Willow. "It's okay," he whispered, kissing the top of her little head. 

When Deaton got the next needle and vial out, these ones significantly smaller, Theo almost couldn't give her to him. The idea of handing his kid over to somebody with a sharp object didn't please either side of him, but Liam eventually got him to go for it when he compromised that Theo could hold her while she got the needle. 

Willow cried and whimpered through it, confused as to why there was something pinchy and metal in her arm, and though it had no effect on Theo when his own blood was being taken, Liam noticed how he winced when he saw Willow's blood go into the vial. His arms shook around Willow as she breathed out a cry of pain.

Liam's mouth fell open in surprise when he saw Theo wrap two fingers and his thumb around one of Willow's tiny wrists and start taking her pain. "Theo-" hetried, but Theo shook his head. He was worried about her pain tolerance in the future if Theo took too much of her pain as she developed, but there was nothing that could stop Theo from doing it now.

"Alright, I think that's enough!" Theo growled at the unphased veterinarian. Deaton took the needle out of Willow's arm and tried to see if the puncture wound would heal back together, but she was whisked away off the table by her father before he could tell for sure. Theo's eyes flashed yellow at the doctor and a low growl emitted from his chest.

Liam sighed and placed his hands on Theo's chest, looking at Deaton apologetically. "I'm sorry, he's been territorial," he said, guiding Theo about a foot and a half backwards so he wouldn't be tempted to hurt the druid. 

Deaton shrugged. "This is far from the first time I've been growled at by a werewolf, Liam. You don't have to worry about me."

Waiting for the tests to be run and done was brutal, but Theo already kind of had a feeling about Willow's supernatural status. The way she reacted when Theo had gotten his needle was odd now that he thought about it, since she shouldn't be able to tell what was dangerous and what wasn't. He'd known since the moment he first saw Willow that he'd do everything in his power to keep Willow out of harm's way, but this added a new urgency and level to protecting her life.

There was the danger of hunters and wolfsbane, but the advantages of healing and strength. His knee bounced up and down nervously as he waited for Deaton in the waiting room, and he could tell that his chemosignals were probably going crazy. Would Willow have to learn chemosignals, or would she already be able to read them because she was a born chimera? Could she already tell when Theo and Liam were upset?

He snapped himself out of those thoughts when Willow whined and shuffled around, squishing her now slightly orange face in the way she always did when she was hungry and was about to let him know about it. Before she could start crying, Liam handed him a bottle of her formula, already knowing what the chimera was thinking. Theo grinned weakly with appreciation, and Liam smiled back sympathetically. "You worried?" He asked, already knowing the answer. Anxiety was coming off of him in waves, and he could tell that this was one of the times when it got worse.

Liam put his hand over Theo's, and the feeling of Liam's palm against his made his increasing heartbeat go slower. The only thing he wanted to do was pull him tighter, interlock their fingers, feel what he needed.

So in his nerves, he decided to say fuck it and risk it, so he did. Liam bit back a choked off breath in his throat, but held onto Theo tightly as soon as Theo laced their fingers together between the seats. This was the little bit of contact that he was invited and allowed to have, o he wasn't about to waste it. "We're gonna keep her safe. Me, you, and the pack," Liam said reassuringly, and Theo's heartbeat started to return to his normal resting pace. "Nothing's going to happen to her. Like I said before, she's going to grow up and be powerful, just like you are."

"What would I do without you?" Theo breathed, meeting Liam's shiny blue eyes. Liam shrugged.

"Be in Hell, probably," He joked, trying to relieve the tension, which thankfully worked.

Deaton came out of his office around twenty minutes later, looking conflicted. He wasn't sure if the news he had was good or bad, but he still had to try and deliver it to an anxious chimera and an angry werewolf without upsetting anyone. Liam stood up to talk to Deaton, leaving Theo's hand cold and alone.

"I've analyzed your blood samples," Deaton started, "And it does look like you and Willow share some of your DNA beyond a human level. I've found traces of the same chemical that made you into a werecoyote in her blood, which may or may not stem into more. Since your chimera genes are dominant, that gives Willow a one-in-two chance of being a chimera if the mother was human, three-in-four if her mother was supernatural."

"So, a high chance," Theo clarified, enunciating slowly. Liam and Deaton looked at him, bracing themselves for a reaction. "Okay."

"Okay?" "Okay?" Liam and Deaton both questioned at the same time. Theo breathed in through his nose deeply once and nodded. 

"It's okay," Theo said. "If she ends up being a chimera, she can heal, defend herself, and have enhanced senses. I don't want to worry about the dangers right now." Liam and Theo's eyes met. "-and I'm confident that the people around me can help to keep her safe."

Liam and Deaton smiled, walking over to Theo to show him some of the analysis and charts. "And hey, now she can't get sick. I know she won't die from jaundice, and I never have to worry about SIDS."

"You know about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome?" Liam gaped. "I just hid a poster from you in the pediatrician's office!" 

Theo laughed. "Liam, for the number of blogs I follow now, I've heard more than enough about SIDS."

\---

From what Theo knew about baby showers, he had figured that the parents weren't really all that involved in the preparation of it, but he was still helping Liam and Mason with the pastel decorations they were keen on hanging. 

Liam was excited to have put something together, and that was the majority of Theo's enjoyment. He kept asking Theo's opinions of the decorations, to which Theo always replied that as long as Willow and Liam were happy, he was happy, which was usually met with "Okay, but green or yellow?"

It had been a good day for Willow; she hadn't been too upset or unruly too much, and besides crying because she accidentally hit herself in the face, she was otherwise peaceful. Theo sat with her on the couch, Liam consulting him every so often and visiting his two favorite people.

Liam had gotten pictures printed out of the night Willow had been born and more, and the pictures were all in a wooden box on the coffee table. Theo vaguely recalled seeing a similar arrangement on Liam's mother's table, and it was always fun to reach into it and see what Liam pictures he could find. His favorite was when Liam had just rubbed cake into his hair as a one-year-old. 

Along with the shiny photos in the box, there were now a lot more around the house. Liam must have taken them to a store to get printed, because there were now three large photographs in black frames in the foyer, all portrait-style just as they had been taken on their cellphones. One was on the the left of Liam, Theo, and Willow all together, the middle one was just a sleeping Willow in her pink hospital cap, and the one on the right was Theo holding Willow. They were all from the night she was born, and it made Theo feel good inside to look at. When Theo had first noticed them there, he was tempted to run upstairs and give Liam a hug, but he regretfully restrained and thanked him. This house was starting to feel more like a home with Liam and Willow in it, and that feeling grew more and more every day.

Mason and Corey were there to help set up, but Corey had managed not to get roped into decorating, so he and Theo hung out with the baby. 

"Sooo...what's the consensus, Chimera or not?" 

"We can't be sure yet, but there's at least a fifty to seventy-five percent chance."

"Nice!" Corey exclaimed. "Let's keep this between us, but I think Mason was hoping there would be another human in the pack to hang out with." Theo chuckled with Corey like a pair of old friends, and for that day, and Theo hoped onwards, it was like the chimera pack never even existed. 

Corey picked up one of the pictures from the box and the back door closed, Liam and Mason slipping out to decorate the outside. "Cute," Corey commented, holding up a picture of Theo and Willow from a few days ago. Theo smiled. 

Some of the pictures in the box, Theo didn't even know that someone had taken them. There were some from Melissa, some from Jenna and David, a few stray ones from the people who had visited them before the shower, but most from Liam. "Yeah, Liam's really thoughtful. He's been making this whole thing a lot easier."

"So I take it things are going well in the Dunbar-Raeken house?" Corey asked, wrapping his hands around his water glass.

"It's  _Raeken-Dunbar_ , for your information, my name is on the lease first. And yes. Things are actually surprisingly good."

Corey smiled. "I'm glad. I like to think that if something like this happened to me, Mason would be around to help like Liam does." Corey paused and took a drink of water, and Theo noticed his face felt hot. "But I guess that's not the right comparison-oh!" Corey's eyes widened, a smile snaking onto his face, and Theo looked around to see what Corey could possibly be looking at.

"What?" Theo asked, a tiny, embarrassed smile coming to light.

"You like Liam!" Theo shushed him, but didn't deny it. "Your face is so pink, Theo!"

"Wait, what?" Theo asked, rubbing his cheekbone with two fingers and checking them.

"You can't rub it off, it's called blushing!"

"Fuck!"

"No, it's okay!" Corey laughed. "You like Liam, that WAS the right comparison, you like him!"

"Okay, okay, maybe I like him," Theo whisper-yelled, face ablaze with his blush. "Don't tell anybody, not even Mason!"

"I won't, I won't...God, I thought my hopes of Thiam happening were dashed by the whole sleeping with a girl thing..." Theo ignored this with a scoff. "You've got to tell him!"

Theo shook his head. "No, I can't...I don't want to mess up what we have going. If he doesn't think of me like that, this whole co-parenting thing we're doing is going to get screwed up."

"Well...you know..." Corey trailed. "If you told him how you felt, you could drop the 'co' off of 'co-parenting.' Just...parent!" Corey hoped he was making sense, so he was relieved when Theo nodded but sighed.

"I don't know, Cor...Soon. I'll try, okay? I promise I'll look for an opening."

Corey patted him on the back just as the front door opened again, Mason and Liam hopping back inside excitedly like they were still fifteen and not nineteen. "Everything okay in here?" Liam asked, and it didn't occur to him that Liam was checking on the baby, not him.

"Everything's great, Liam. When are people coming?" Corey replied to distract Liam from Theo's flushed face and embarrassed chemosignals. 

Liam beamed. "In just a few minutes. Everyone called or texted ahead to confirm they were coming."

"Wow, sometimes I forget we're adults with adult friends," Theo sighed, getting up off the couch to straighten himself out. "Are Scott and Kira brining Damien and Mel?"

Damien and Melissa, the two twins, were the oldest of the second generation of the McCall pack and were one year and two months old. Lydia and Parrish had Aiden soon after, but they were still the son and daughter of the alpha and the kitsune. That made Willow the fourth and youngest in the pack. Liam nodded, smiling at the thought of the dark-haired kids.

Speaking of which, the doorbell rang, and Liam and Mason rushed downstairs to get it. Kira was there with a wide smile on her innocent face, Scott behind her with his two twins. "Hey!" She squealed excitedly, which Liam had expected, since out of everyone in the pack, she had the biggest soft spot for babies. "What's up? Nice place, I can't believe we haven't been here before! Busy couple of weeks, huh?" She rattled off, and Scott gave a soft smile behind her at his fiancee. 

"Yeah, I guess," Liam sarcastically sighed, his happy face giving him away. "Come on in, you can put your jackets on the railing and I'll take care of them, and gifts go on the dining room table. Corey, Theo, and Willow are in the kitchen!" Kira clapped her hands once and carried her gift bag upstairs, being led by Mason. Kira went straight to the kitchen with Mason, but Scott lingered by the door in the foyer with Liam.

Maybe the two kids on each of his arms would have broken some of the tension for other people, Liam was still serious and stoic, knowing that there was something otherwise unspoken between the alpha and beta. "Behave yourself," He finally said, looking Scott in his eyes. Scott didn't smile or frown, just merely shrugged.

"If you're gonna tell anyone to behave, it should be Stiles," Scott pointed out, but Liam didn't take notice of the joke.

"He's changed," Liam insisted, and Scott nodded.

"As you keep saying. I know. Calm down, Liam, I'm not about to make a scene at a baby shower."

"Li!" Damien squeaked, and Liam smiled at Scott's son as though this conversation had never happened. Liam grabbed Damien's little hand and squoze.

"Hey, Damien, hey, Mel! You gonna see Willow and Aiden today?" He asked. Both of the twins squealed with enthusiasm, and Liam nodded for Scott to head upstairs. 

Right behind Scott and Kira, Malia, Cora, and Hayden arrived. Hayden greeted him with an excited hug while the Hale/Tate cousins both looked around stiffly as Hales did. Ah, Malia. Never change.

That was the last of people coming for a few minutes, so Liam went upstairs to the main level to see everyone. The enthusiastic chatter of the pack was only contrasted by the few who weren't saying anything at all (namely the same two girls who seemed to have never gone anywhere, ever) but that was to be expected what with the relationship some of the pack had with Theo. Kira and Hayden were both cooing at Willow cutely, who was looking between them confusedly, and Theo gave Liam a laughing glance. Scott, Malia, and Cora, the more serious ones of the pack, were all standing in the kitchen with their drinks already, and Liam figured that the two girls would be like that for awhile longer. Scott and Kira's twins were sitting on the couch with juice boxes that Corey had given them, poking each other in that sibling type of way. 

"How's everything over here?" Liam asked, walking over to theo and Willow. The older chimera smiled at him and nodded reassuringly, but Liam could smell little wisps of nervousness in Theo's chemosignals. It was clear that Theo was trying his hardest to hide it, but it wasn't working. Liam looked at him with concern when the wisps were replaced by full, uncensored anxiety, quickly realizing it was because of the three who had just stepped a little closer.

Liam hadn't even noticed that Stiles and Derek were there, Mason must have let them in, and they were coming towards Theo and Willow slowly with Scott by their side. Liam watched Theo and saw the way his hold on his daughter stiffened and he turned her slightly away from the alpha, human, and former alpha, and Liam stepped closer to Theo's side. It had become a reflex ever since Theo was resurrected and the pack was always trying to attack him, and it set a bad feeling in his stomach that he had to repeat the all-too-familiar process now. 

"So," Stiles said in his flat, generally sarcastic and sometimes accusatory voice. "Knocked somebody up, huh?"

Liam clenched his teeth, but Derek elbowed his boyfriend in the side to get him to shut his trap. The look on Theo's face broke his heart; he looked like he was afraid one of them was going to try and take Willow away from him. "Shut up, Stiles," Derek sighed, and Stiles rolled his eyes. 

Something was burning on Theo's shoulder, and he realized that it was Liam's hand. "Scott," Theo pressed out civilly, addressing the alpha first. "Derek, Stiles."

"I'm not going to hurt her, I just want to see her."

Liam and Theo could both tell by Scott's heartbeat that he had no ulterior motives, so Theo cautiously turned Willow so the three men could see her face. Stiles eyed her skeptically, not at all the way you were supposed to look at a newborn, while the two wolves just stared and then looked at each other before sharing a nod.

Scott's eyes flashed red and Derek's went blue for a split second, looking to see if they would get a reaction, and they did-but not from Willow. Theo flinched so hard that Liam could feel it, and the beta gasped and gripped Theo's shoulder harder to keep him steady. "Are you okay?" He asked urgently, not caring that the others were around to see his concern. Theo's heart was beating like crazy, but as soon as he met Liam's calm blue eyes, it started to slow down. The werewolves and creatures in the room who could hear heartbeats shared their own glances. They truly were each other's anchors, whether they'd acknowledge it or not. "What the hell was that?" He asked, turning to Scott and Derek angrily.

"We just wanted to see if she was flashing her eyes yet. We didn't mean to scare him," Scott apologized, and Stiles smirked. Liam found himself wanting to wipe it off his face with a fist, but he didn't. Fights weren't generally the best way to start baby showers. 

"Jesus, warn a guy next time!" Theo breathed, looking at the trio with annoyance. "If you've got a problem with her, then you can take it up with me, but if you've seriously got problems with a newborn-"

"No one has problems with Willow," Derek sighed. "For you...well, I have half a mind to punch you in the face every time I look at you, because you deserve nothing more than a swift broken jaw." Liam growled low in his throat, but Derek ignored him. "But if you're going to let her, Willow is going to be a part of this pack. Just like Aiden, Damien, and Mel are."

Theo looked at Scott and Stiles, looking for confirmation of Derek's serious words. Stiles nodded once and Scott gave a polite smile, and Theo then turned to Liam. "And what about Theo?" Liam asked, squaring his shoulders and shooting all three of them a daring look.

"Liam, it's fine," Theo whispered, although he knew Liam wasn't and wouldn't be satisfied. "Thank you."

A smile spread across Scott's face, and Stiles reached out. "Well? Can I hold her?"

"Seriously?" Theo asked, but gave her to him. Stiles scoffed.

"This baby didn't kill my best friend. I might have issues with you, but I'm not about to have drama with a two-week-old."

\---

Festivities came and went, and the entire party was just a lot of the pack socializing and hanging out. Theo had never felt so included in anything, and it was so different to have people genuinely wanting to talk to him. Melissa, Argent, and Liam's parents were all gushing about how cute his daughter was and how good of a father he seemed to be, which filled him with pride, and Theo was even starting to be able to talk to the other fathers of the pack. Scott let his guard down and let his kids play with the chimera, and Theo was having  _fun_ , something that he never thought was possible with the pack. People were screwing around and playing, like Mason, Corey, and Malia, who were seeing how many things Corey could turn invisible and move without anyone noticing, and Cora and Hayden, who tried to test who could drink a bunch of juice boxes the fastest. Spoiler alert: Derek was definitely the champion of that.

Theo wasn't the only one having fun with all the family togetherness. Lydia, Kira, and Liam were all together on the couch, Lydia and Kira talking to Liam about their experiences with raising their kids and how hard but rewarding it would be when Willow started to grow more. Liam took in the information gratefully, and it felt oddly right to be talking to the mothers. Meanwhile, Scott, Parrish, and Theo all watched from a bit away, standing with their drinks. 

"Mothers, huh?" Scott joked about his fiance and Parrish's wife, and Parrish laughed. 

"And Liam," Parrish pointed out, and Theo took a sip of his water. "Well..."

Parrish and Scott both turned to Theo with a smirk. "What?" Theo asked, a hint of defensiveness in his voice.

"Liam's essentially Willow's mother, isn't he?" Parrish asked knowingly, and Scott snorted. "...that is, unless, you have someone else in your life."

This newfound blushing thing was annoying, and Theo was almost certain that his stupid face was doing it again. The quick Google search he did while he was in the bathroom told him that blushing happened when something was true, accusatory, or embarrassing, and this fit into all three categories. "I mean...I guess," Theo admitted, and both of the other fathers looked at each other smugly. "Alright, let's not get into this conversation-"

"I didn't say anything!" Scott said, his hands up. "But Parrish isn't wrong..."

"Would you want him to parent your kid?" Parrish asked pointedly. "Like...Lydia and I parenting? Scott and Kira parenting?" Theo scoffed and tried to brush this off.

"I- well- he's already kind of-" Parrish and Scott started laughing. "No, no, not like that, he's not like that!" 

"Theo, you're fucking red," Scott teased, and Theo cursed under his breath. "So, are you looking for a Parrish and Lydia thing, or..."

"I'm not gonna answer that," Theo grumbled, looking away from the hellhound and alpha to Liam, who was luckily distracted by the baby talk that was going on. 

As the party went on, Theo still stuck around those two, and they didn't ask him anymore. It was clear to them that they had their answer, and the one they were looking for, too. 

Theo seemed to know as well. Without Liam, there would be none of this.

The chimera decided then and there when he saw the beta smile at him that he was going to take a chance. All he had to do now was plan.


	4. Ferris Wheels and Family Affairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Memories of the time Theo and Liam spent at the amusement park bring them ever so close.

"Do you want to do something later?" 

Liam looked up at Theo from where he was sitting on the floor watching TV, seeing Theo feeding Willow with a bottle and looking at him expectantly. It was already almost eight o'clock (Willow's bedtime, for your information, you rebel dad) and the sun was down. "Like what?" Liam asked interestedly anyway, despite being tired from work and taking care of Willow. 

Theo's heart skipped a beat. Perfect. "I don't know. It's Saturday tomorrow, and I was thinking that maybe we're due for some time alone? I mean, just hanging out, the two of us. Mason and Corey agreed to babysit, and I feel like we need it."

"You sure you want to leave Willow alone? Not that I'm opposed to a day off," Liam asked, and Theo shrugged.

"She won't be alone. I trust Mason and Corey, she'll be safe with them." Liam smiled and nodded, wondering what Theo was planning. "I was thinking we could go to the amusement park, order some food, and watch some movies. I'd go and get Willow in the morning," Theo explained.

"Sounds good! I don't have to go in at all tomorrow, so I'm all set!"

Theo could't stop himself from smiling widely. Step one of his plan was complete.

\---

A few days ago...

"Please Corey, please?" Theo pleaded, much to Corey's amusement. Seeing Theo begging him for something so ordinary was funny in any light. "I swear, I'll do anything, I just need one day alone with Liam-"

"With Liam?" Corey interrupted. "Done and done. Are you finally gonna make a move on him?"

Theo didn't have time to think about how easy it was for Corey to agree, and he flushed. "If all goes well...yeah. I'm gonna take him out to the amusement park. We've got memories there, it could be romantic. We'll go back to our place while Willow's here, and, well..." Theo trailed off and Corey laughed. 

"What gave you a change of heart? Last time I talked to you about him you were set in your 'friends only' standpoint."

Theo remembered the last few things that had happened over the past few days, and his eyes glazed over with a dreamy expression on his face. He zoned out right in the middle of Corey's living room, not sure how to say what had really made him want to make his move.

Yesterday, Willow had laid on Theo's chest like she always did, propped up against his bent knees while he was on his bed. She loved the contact with her dad, so he wasn't going to deny her that happiness, especially when the alternative was her crying. The chimera was afraid that his daughter would startle when he felt a sneeze coming up, but that wasn't the reaction he got at all. 

When he opened his eyes, two little green ones were staring back, but this time, it was different: a little smile sat on her face and Theo gasped. "You're smiling!" He breathed with wonder. "Since when do you do that? You like it when I sneeze? Okay!" Theo wanted to sneeze again just so he could see her little smile again, but he couldn't. He talked to Willow excitedly in his baby voice, and his ears almost didn't pick up on the sound of the front door opening. "Li!" He called, rushing out of his room and down the hall to greet him. 

"What happened?" Liam asked, his after-work tiredness melted away by the sudden urgency. 

"Willow smiled! Not a gas reflex, I sneezed and she smiled!"

A wide grin set on Liam's face. "I can't believe I didn't see it, that's great! You smiled, Willa?" Liam asked rhetorically, grabbing one of Willow's little hands and shaking it around excitedly. Both of the men laughed almost giddily, and Willow gave another toothless grin. "Oh my god!"

The beta pulled Theo in for a tight hug, a boundary that barely existed anymore, wrapping both chimeras in his arms. Theo could feel the heat and happiness radiating off of Liam's body as he pressed their bodies close together, and all of the sudden, it happened again.

He'd never put too much thought into the matching even though it had happened quite a few times, but he couldn't help but think about it now. Whenever they were close like this, or happy, or even just talking, there was inevitably the sound of two heartbeats synced. It made Theo want to listen to Liam's heart whenever they were even in the same room, and sure enough, one of theirs would change to match the other's. 

He wondered if Liam noticed it too, if his heart felt somehow warmer or if his stomach filled with butterflies like his did. And as he pulled away from the embrace that reminded him of what he felt for the blue-eyed beta, he was still thinking about it.

Liam's eyes looked greenish-blue in the low lighting of their windowless hallway and Theo was sure that his looked as stupid and mystified as he felt. He bit his lip and he would swear on his life that Liam's heart bumped up just a little faster, but as the steady thumping stayed constant with his own, he could never be sure whose started first. 

A call on Liam's cell broke him out of his trance, but sitting in Corey's apartment days later, Theo could still feel the hand Liam had absentmindedly put on his waist. 

"Dude..." Corey said, "You good?"

"Yeah, I- yeah." Corey smirked as Theo struggled to regain his train of thought. "A week ago, at the shower, Parrish asked me if Liam and I were co-parenting, or if we were like Scott and Kira." Theo drew in a breath. "And he asked if I wanted us to be."

"And you do want to be," Corey finished, sitting back in his seat, satisfied.

"Of course. I can't imagine a world without him in it, and I just...ever since Willow was born, it just feels right with him, not like with anyone else. I feel like I belong there when I'm next to him, and I-" Theo's voice cracked, something else that was new and unknown, but he ignored it and breathed again. "Sometimes I'll just be talking to him and our heartbeats will match up, so much that I can't tell whos is whos, and it just feels like some kind of a sign."

Corey's eyes bugged out in a way that Theo might have found funny if this weren't so serious. "Your hearts match?" He asked, and Theo nodded. "You know what that means, right?"

"Uh...no?"

The chameleon grinned. "Mason told me that when your heartbeat consistently matches up with someone you're close to...it means...you and Liam are mates, Theo."

Theo stopped breathing entirely, his breath getting caught in his throat. He knew what he felt for Liam was unlike anything else, but he thought that mates were only for alphas, like how Kira was to Scott. "Corey, if you're fuckin' with me..."

"I'm not! I would never kid about something like this!" Corey exclaimed, and Theo ran a hand through his hair. The word "Mates" sat well with him, yet another thing that felt right. "When did you first notice it?"

Theo recalled the events of the night that Willow was born, and how all three of them seemed to be in sync with each other and how content he had felt. Corey listened intently to Theo's every word and nodded. "It sounds like Willow already knew who you belong with." Theo cocked his head to the side with confusion. "Supernatural families have a bond, like mate to mate or alpha to beta. I'm surprised you never learned about this."

"I'm not the one who's boyfriend goes around reading lore for fun," Theo pointed out, and Corey shrugged. 

"Either way, she must know that Liam is something of a father to her."

Theo could feel his eyes getting watery (Goddamn emotions, ew) so he blinked tightly a few times. "So, will you take her tomorrow? I'll pay you, and I swear I won't be late."

Corey folded his hands in his lap, looking at the other chimera. "Theo, I would do it for free. Drop her off anytime, and go and get your man."

\---

The next morning, Theo woke up buzzing. Neither of them had work, the weather was good, and Willow was in a pleasant mood. Perfect.

Both of the boys were looking forward to the day ahead of them, and there was a new spring in their steps as they went about their morning routine. Theo took extra care that morning in looking good, putting on a white and blue striped shirt and a navy blue beanie, the one Liam had complimented once, and nice jeans. He arranged his hair nicely even though it would obviously get messed up on the rides they were going on, but the little bit of self-consciousness that he'd gained since coming back was creeping up. Liam looked great too, as usual, wearing a long sleeved dark green shirt. It only occured to Theo after an hour that their outfits were reflections of each other's eyes, but was he bothered? Absolutely not.

They fed Willow with only one screw-up, almost dropping half a bottle of formula on the floor, watered the plant that Liam had bought awhile ago and was determined to keep alive, and got Willow ready to go. She finally had more than three outfits after the baby shower, and Theo was having a surprising amount of fun playing stylist for her. Today's outfit was a red shirt with grey pants, and the little baby socks got Theo every time for some reason.

Even with the excitement of the day ahead, Willow was still the forefront in his mind for a long time. This was her first time being babysat for more than about an hour, and it scared the hell out of Theo. Liam was doing his best to keep the chimera calm and happy, which h was thankful for, but there was still a doubt in the back of his mind. He knew he had to do it, though; you couldn't really set a romantic mood when there was a crying baby around. 

That wasn't to say that it was easy to drop her off. Theo handed her to Mason after a full minute of goodbyes, making sure that everything was in her diaper bag, and telling Mason and Corey what to do in case of some outlandish and unlikely event occurring. He was immediately anxious all over again when the front door shut and Willow was behind it, but a hand on his bicep calmed him and reminded him of what was to come. 

"You said we were going to an amusement park?" Liam asked once they were in the car.

"Yeah. I haven't been to one since we graduated after senior year. You remember that?"

Step two of the plan had multiple sub-plans, one of which was reminiscing. Theo had very little to reminisce about considering his teenage life was nothing normal, but re-enrolling in highschool and being in senior year with Liam was a relatively happy time. He was pleased when Liam blushed and nodded, and he wondered if he was remembering the same things Theo was.

"Yeah, like that time Mason tried to get Corey to go on the tilt-a-whirl and he threw up so hard he cried?" Liam laughed, and although that wasn't what Theo was thinking in the slightest, he did the same. 

"Gross, but yeah, I remember," Theo admitted, eyes on the road. "Or when we rode the ferris wheel three times in one night."

Liam's eyes dropped down to his hands in his lap. "Yeah," He breathed, then cleared his throat, not saying anymore about it. "We going to the same one?"

Theo gave a sideways smile. "Of course. For old time's sake."

The ride down to the park was about thirty minutes long and the most relaxing thing Theo and Liam had done together in probably...well...how old was Willow again? It was the first time in a month that the two of them weren't worrying about someone else, and it felt good to just get lost in the moment with each other. Liam tapped his fingers on the dashboard of Theo's truck and Theo sang along to the music that played on the radio. Theo sounded beautiful. Liam would never admit that.

Theo had bought tickets in advance so that they wouldn't have to worry about waiting in long lines, so Liam had plenty of time to admire Theo and how good he looked that day. He had always loved that knit hat, and was sure that he'd told him before. "That looks great on you," He thought out loud, and the older looked downwards at him with a small smile on his face. Theo ignored the way his stomach fluttered when Liam complimented him and tugged on the beta's wrist, pulling him past a crowd of people.

"What should we do first?" Theo asked, looking for Liam to point them in some direction. 

The park was alive with colors of flashing lights even in the middle of the day, and the atmosphere excited them. "We should do the Scrambler first, see who gets dizzier!" Liam immediately suggested, and the chimera let out a lighthearted groan. They both knew who would win that contest. The last time he'd went on the scrambler, Theo fell as soon as the ride stopped and he tried to get out. Badass, chemically-created fighting machine? Maybe so, but the Dread Doctors obviously weren't focused enough on Theo's ability to stand up straight. 

"Alright, alright," Theo laughed as Liam tugged him along. They scanned their ticket wristbands at the gate and Liam just about ran to the ride as soon as the uninterested teenage worker opened the gate for them, Theo following close behind. The beta hopped into one of the silver carts and Theo came in beside him, taking the seat towards the side. The cart seated three, but Liam chose the seat right next to him in the middle. Theo smiled to himself; Liam would press against him every time the ride moved. 

The Scrambler had five robotic arms that had the potential to be the stuff of nightmares, each attached to two carts that spun around. Some of it was robotic, but other times it was just free spinning and hoping to god that the constraints weren't broken. Of the three times Theo had ridden it (since Liam loved it) it never failed to, well, scramble him. He still remembered the slow-healing scrape on his face from when he had promptly fallen on the concrete last time.

"You ready?" Liam asked happily. Theo readjusted his hat so it wouldn't fall off and nodded, resting his hand on the guardrail on the door. "Try not to fall."  


"Shut-" Theo was interrupted by the ride starting. "Oh, shit-"

"Scared?" Liam teased as it picked up speed, and Theo was too busy trying to refocus his vision to glare at him.

The mixer spun around, sometimes seeming like it was about to toss them right out into the onlookers, and Theo was hanging on for dear life. He wasn't scared, just dizzy. He was admittedly having fun, but that didn't mean that he was about to toss his hands in the air like Liam was doing. Since Liam wasn't holding onto the guardrail to keep him steady, he was pressed up to him almost the entire time, just as Theo had expected. Neither were sure how it happened, but one of Liam's hands came down from the air and landed to rest on Theo's thigh, and the whirring of the machine luckily masked the sharp breath Theo took when he felt it. He didn't move it for the rest of the ride, though.

Theo stumbled trying to get out, and Liam grinned. "Need help?" he asked, and Theo grumbled, but let Liam take his hand and gently pull him down from the ride. His legs felt like jelly, but luckily he had Liam to keep him steady and anchored.

While Theo was recovering from his Scrambler-induced vertigo, he was still looking for more things to do. Liam was bouncing around like a kid in a candy store looking at everything, since it all reminded him of years past when he and Theo were younger. It didn't help to stop his excitement that Theo was still holding onto his wrist even though he had long since regained his balance, but he would never mention that. 

Theo decided then that his new saying for excitement trumped "kid in a candy store," and that "a Liam in an amusement park" was better in every way. "You want to go on the log flume?" Theo asked, seeing how Liam was looking at it. 

The amusement park truly was the best place to take Liam for some time away. Each and every one of these rides had a memory attached to it: the Scrambler, where Liam had rushed to help Theo up after he fell on his face, the Tilt-A-Whirl, the first ride they went on together (also the one that had a rather gross picture attached to it; thanks Corey), and the log flume, when Liam the idiot had decided that it was the best time to confide in Theo that he was afraid of heights right before the drop. It was a good time, Liam screaming the whole way down, but he admitted that he'd enjoyed it after the initial terror was over. 

Liam nodded and started off towards the line, fidgeting with his hands as he waited. "We don't have to, you know," Theo reminded.

"No, I want to," Liam protested. "It was fun the last time."

"You sure? I vaguely remember you breaking my eardrums at the drop-" Liam shoved Theo, who laughed.

"Shut it, I want to ride."

 _I know something else you can ride,_ Theo's mind said, but he quickly shoved that to the backburner, hoping it wouldn't come up again.  _I know something else that's gonna come up-_

Shut up!

Once they got into the plastic log, Theo watched as Liam looked around. Nothing had changed since they had been there, but he wanted to see what he remembered of it. Theo couldn't help but think that the low light reflected off of Liam's cheekbones perfectly, and he wanted to thumb away the little drop of water that stuck there from the splashing of the ride. 

The log-shaped boat that they were in floated in water, so when the ride started moving, water sloshed around. Theo saw a pair of sunglasses and a few coins someone had dropped in there and took off his beanie and put it in his pocket, screwing up his hair. 

The ride slowly started to float around the water, and Theo could tell that this was the part Liam liked the best. It was kind of relaxing, except for the log clunking against the walls and the sound of screaming in the background. Theo wondered how people were scared; it would take one hell of a ride to make Theo actually fearful. 

Liam, on the other hand, had his eyes shut almost the entire way up the slope. "Li, it's okay," he said, and Liam opened his eyes at the sound of his anchor's voice. "If you manage to fall out, you'll probably heal."

"Do you ever shut your face?" Liam groaned, but there was a kind of laughter in his tone that made Theo smile. 

The low rumbling of the ride went over Liam's words, so as he talked all the way to the top, Theo couldn't tell what he was saying. It wasn't until they reached the peak and it paused that Theo caught the "I'm still afraid of heights" before the car fell, ramming itself down the ramp in a freefall. Theo just laughed as Liam's high-pitched screaming ran through the tunnel, and it took awhile for the beta's heartbeat to calm down. Consequently, both of their heartbeats were going way too fast to be considered at all normal.

"Jesus, Liam, your heart!" Theo breathed, amused and out of breath. Liam rolled his eyes.

"Oh, please, your's is going just as fast," Liam sighed, waving Theo's comments aside. 

The chimera wilted slightly. That meant that Liam didn't know about the mate heartbeats. How was he supposed to bring that up if Liam had no idea about it?

He didn't let his worry get in his way. Maybe, just maybe, if Liam felt the same, he could talk to him about it later.

\---

Hours later, the sun was setting over the horizon and they were still going. Their supernatural abilities made it easy to not get tired from all the walking, and neither one of them really wanted to leave, but their stomachs were growling with hunger. 

They both knew that there was still something to do, though, so it was unspoken when Theo guided them over to the ferris wheel that the park called it's pride and joy. 

Yes, Liam was afraid of heights, so naturally Theo had tried to get him to go on any high thing he possibly could. It was a feat of his that he had gotten Liam on a ferris wheel, especially this one; it overlooked the entire park and you could see it from where they had parked the truck awhile away. 

Neither of them spoke as they waited in line. Liam's heart was pumping with anticipation, and Theo's naturally went right along with it, and the chimera checked every so often to see if Liam noticed. Instead, what he saw was much better; Liam's face, lit up by the blue lights of the ferris wheel, his adam's apple moving down and back up as he swallowed. 

What they'd shared at the top of the ferris wheel all those months ago seemed like it had been forever, but it was all coming back to Theo. The only thing he could do now was hope that Liam felt the same way.

\---

The top of the ferris wheel shouldn't be so calm for a werewolf who was afraid of heights, but he was able to look around at everything, sigh, and smile. What had started as a normal day of hanging out had seemed to come full circle.

Liam remembered their senior graduation, and how proud Theo looked of himself in his cap and gown. He was the one who was most excited to graduate high school, and he had his diploma framed in the living room years later. He remembered helping Theo apply for colleges and the strife he'd been in when he made the decision to drop out, being with him every step of the way. All the nights spent at Peter's bar just to see him working, all the times they'd come home to seperate places until Liam finally found out Theo was in his truck, all the arguments and the happy nights. He wouldn't have wished for anything else.

Willow came into their lives and knocked him on his ass, but he'd never been happier or closer to the man he called his housemate, which seemed like a fucking joke. He'd be a liar to say that he didn't think about him every second of every day like he was the mantra that calmed him, like he was the most important thing in his life, because he was. Without Theo, there would be none of what he had now: no house, no job, and sure as hell no family like the one he had now with him and Willow. Because Theo and Willow were family, simple as that. 

And there they were now, silent on top of the ferris wheel, just like they had been the very same night they graduated. Liam's parents had let him, Mason, Corey, and Nolan run loose in the amusement park, gaining all the memories that made this loud and bustling place feel familiar. 

There was nothing that Liam would trade this in for.

As the sun went down with the ferris wheel, the spell was broken.

For now.

\---

"I can't believe you did that!" Liam was still gasping with laughter as Theo unlocked their door. Right before they had left, Theo almost knocked over the cart that a man was selling balloons from, sending helium balloons floating away. They'd had to buy at least ten of them since a lot of them floated away, but Theo had a cotton-candy shaped balloon in his hand anyway. That was a lot of fun to have in the truck while he was trying to drive, as though Liam laughing about his screw-up wasn't distracting enough already. Theo grinned when he finally stopped fumbling with the keys, holding the balloon's string between his teeth while he pushed inside.

Just for a second, it felt like old times, but then Theo was making his way to his room to drop his keys and wallet on his nightstand and Liam was following. "The guy's face-" Liam choked on his breath, almost doubled over. "I wish I would have gotten it on camera, I would've sent that to everyone we knew!"

"Glad to know your policy of secrecy is so strong," Theo laughed, kicking off his shoes and tossing his watch to the side. He had kind of been expecting Liam to go, but he lingered.

He hadn't made his move yet, and he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to. There could have been plenty of perfect opportunities, but he had a clear picture in his head of what he had been expecting, but that would be hard to fulfill. This was probably his last chance, so he leaned back on his hands and looked at Liam expectantly.

The silent question hung in the air: stay or go?

Liam chose stay and slowly came to sit next to Theo, the laughter gone and faded into the dim room. "I had fun today," He said, looking at Theo. "Thank you."

Theo gave a small grin. "No problem. We both needed it, anyway."

The two sat for a second, something crackling in the air. "I liked going to the amusement park. We should've gone sooner." Liam looked down at his hands in his lap and then back up at Theo, admiring the way his eyes looked like they were analyzing. "A lot of memories there, huh?"

"Like the cotton candy stains on your white shirt?" Theo asked. "Or when I dropped my phone off the pirate ship ride?"

Liam chuckled something that sounded more like a breath. "What about watching Nolan thirst over one of the ride attendants?" Theo's eyes lit up at that one, he'd almost forgotten. They both shared their laughs at that until things stilled again.

_"Or when you looked like you really wanted to kiss me on the ferris wheel."_

Theo was taken aback by that and his heartbeat stuttered. "-when I told you I was anxious because I didn't know what to do if you actually did," Liam kept going. "and how I regretted it every day I looked at you for two years."

It felt like time was slowing down, and Theo's mouth fell open the slightest bit in a confused and dazed state. The only sound in the room was their hearts, the thing that joined them together. "Liam-"

"Tell me you don't feel that," Liam breathed, looking deadly serious. "You don't feel it every time our hearts match."

"I-I-"

"The only thing I could think of when we were up on the ferris wheel tonight was that we came full circle. Except now, I want to do something."

Theo didn't have to wait to see what Liam meant; deep down, he already knew. So when two warm hands came to cup his face, he didn't flinch and he couldn't bring himself to move away, just went with the flow.

The memories they'd made at the amusement park were important, but Theo didn't think he would ever share a memory with Liam that was more important than the feeling of his soft lips finally pressing against his, getting what he had wanted, needed for years. Just like it had been with their heartbeats, kissing Liam felt like nothing but pure ecstasy and comfort.

Theo's neglected hands made their way to Liam's hips, pulling him in closer so that the beta was as close as he could be. Their lips moved together like clockwork, something that was never meant to stop and made sense to begin. Pulling away for air was torture; seeing the awestruck, blown pupils on each other made it better.

The sweet kiss they'd shared couldn't stay that way, however, not when Liam was basically sitting on his lap, not when the way he was holding onto his shoulders was rougher than need be and his hands were shaking under Liam's green shirt. "Liam," Theo breathed, the first word since they'd touched, and Liam loved the way Theo's quiet voice still sounded so desperate. 

"Yeah?" Liam asked, looking down at Theo. He didn't think there was a better view than what he had now. Below him, Theo's eyes were shiny in a way that he'd never seen before, his cheeks a bright pink dusting of anticipation. His hands were hot but gentle on him, and he relished in the touch.

Theo quickly realized that he had no words and leaned up to kiss him again, putting his hands firmly on Liam's sides under his shirt and pulling him ever so closer. "I need you," He whispered so lowly that no human could hear it, and that was all Liam needed to know, smiling against his lips and pushing him slowly downwards so his back hit the soft mattress.

\---

**Thump Thump**

_Thump-Thump_

**Thump Thump**

_Thump-Thump_

** Thump Thump **

**Thump Thump**

\---

  


There was nothing more that Theo Raeken could ask for of his life, of his family.

He'd found friends in the same people who pushed him away all those months ago, people like Parrish, Lydia, even Scott. They treated him like nothing had ever happened, like he had been a normal high school student with the rest of them, like he hadn't gone through changes that would make anyone else snap.

It was hard to work now since it meant leaving Willow, but he figured out very quickly that life with a kid in the workplace was a lot more fun: his co-workers actually wanted to see all the baby pictures he had and loved to get updates on what she was doing.

Every milestone she reached was like a new picture on the wall, mostly because Liam kept printing things out to hang up. Seriously, there was evidence of Liam and Theo being parents on every surface they had: wallets full of pictures of the two others, lockscreens on phones, picture frames on dressers. Nobody could deny that Theo and Liam loved their daughter, and each other. 

Ever since that night after the amusement park, Theo and Liam's hearts never lost rhythm. They stayed together like a steady beat that led the way, like a drummer in battle. From the second they woke up the next morning to right then, Theo could tell exactly what Liam was feeling and he could feel the warmth in his heart whenever he got closer. 

As much as it was a bad thing to say, Theo found himself glad that Willow's mother left. Where there is darkness, there is always light, and he found his light in two seperate places; Willow, and Liam, the two most important things in his life.

And he wouldn't trade it for the world. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's a wrap! :) I had a lot of fun writing this, and I really liked exploring how Theo would be as a father. He had so much depth as a character, and Dad Theo was another layer that was interesting to utilize, and I hope that it was as interesting to read! Special thanks to my friend Grace who insisted Theo's daughter be named Willow, and to Malia, who begrudgingly agreed with Eden as the middle name. 
> 
>  
> 
> (And if you were wondering - Sage, Jasmine, and Juniper were all on the table for her name...I guess I had a thing for plants that day.)


End file.
